How imagery changes self-motion perception.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Perception Psychology

Background:

• Imagery and perception are closely linked, but the interaction between mental imagery and the vestibular sense, particularly self-motion perception, remains poorly understood.
• The vestibular system is crucial for sensing head motion and maintaining balance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how mental imagery of rotation affects the perception of physical self-motion.
• To explore the influence of imagined rotations on early vestibular processing and perceptual decision-making.

Main Methods:

• Participants were seated in a motorized chair in darkness and asked to imagine rotating left or right before physical rotation.
• The chair's rotation velocity was adjusted to determine when participants perceived self-motion.
• The onset of the vestibular-ocular reflex was measured to assess early vestibular processing.

Main Results:

• Higher chair velocity was required to perceive self-motion during incongruent imagined and physical rotations compared to congruent trials.
• The vividness of imagined rotations decreased in incongruent trials.
• Early vestibular processing, specifically the vestibular-ocular reflex onset, was modulated by the congruency between imagined and physical rotations.

Conclusions:

• Mental imagery exerts top-down influences on self-motion perception.
• Imagery affects both early vestibular responses and later perceptual decision-making processes.
• This study reveals a significant interaction between mental imagery and the vestibular system in shaping our sense of self-motion.